


Origin of Discovery

by NihilusShadow



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek Online, Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Gen, Star Trek - Freeform, Star Trek Online - Freeform, Star Trek: Discovery - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 20:22:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19236421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NihilusShadow/pseuds/NihilusShadow
Summary: The Temporal Cold War has ended and time has finally been restored... or has it? A mysterious Benefactor from the 28th century has a grudge against the Klingon Empire and will stop at nothing to see their empire erased from the galaxy. When time is mysteriously altered and a new quantum reality threatens to erase the Prime Timeline from existence, Temporal Agent Daniels of the 31st century must travel back in time to the earliest days of the United Federation of Planets and stop a mutigenic virus from destroying the Klingon Empire as we know it! Can Agent Daniels save both Universes or must he sacrifice one to save the other...?





	Origin of Discovery

"Priority alert! This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill! Level twelve temporal breach detected!"  
  
_Level twelve? Damn_. Agent Daniels mind raced as he made his way to New Khitomer's command center, pushing his way through the panicked Union officers scrambling to get to their stations. From Daniels' point of view it had only been three days since the end of the Temporal War and he was happy to have the time off, but they say time waits for no man and that's doubly so for temporal agents. Daniels reached central command and found things just as chaotic here as he approached K'Tal, an old burly Klingon and Union commander in charge of New Khitomer.  
  
"What have we got?" Daniels asked. A holographic image detailing thousands of quantum realities monitored by New Khitomer appeared in the center of the room. With a wave of his hand, K'Tal selected an area of the Prime Timeline and highlighted the mid 22nd century in red.  
  
"There has been a level twelve time breach somewhere around the 2160s. We're trying to pinpoint the exact time now." said K'Tal.  
  
Daniels walked around the display as various images appeared detailing major historical events in that century. The Xindi Conflict, Earth-Romulan War and the signing of the United Federation of Planets appeared exactly as they should. He would know since he personally spent a great deal of time making sure those events unfolded exactly as they should. The thought of all that being unraveled just when he was starting to relax unnerved him.  
  
"Everything is looking good so far," Daniels said as he accessed historical reports. He sifted through file after file, but his heart sank when he discovered a file he knew didn't belong. "Damn." he muttered. A new file he knew hadn't been there before was now accessible and he brought it up for everyone to see.  
  
K'Tal's jaw dropped when he read what appeared. "It would seem the Klingon Empire has unexpectedly attacked the fledgling United Federation of Planets." he said tapping the time stamp and bringing the event up on the timeline. "The Massacre of Beta Rigel. There should be no such attack here."  
  
Daniels observed the holographic recreation of the battle. A Klingon fleet arrived at Beta Rigel on Saturday, April 9th, 2168 and proceeded to plasma bomb the planet with no warning. Planetary defenses stood no chance against the attacking ships and a task force led by the USS Challenger NX-03 would arrive two days later to find the colony in ruin. The Federation ships fought valiantly, but were outnumbered by the Klingons. "Do we have any idea what instigated the attack?" Daniels asked.  
  
"No," K'Tal rubbed his eyes before continuing. "Since the end of the War the 22nd century has been mostly quiet. Whoever did this must have access to stealth travel." Daniels continued to watch as Disruptor fire sliced through the Challenger's shields and carved into her secondary hull, tearing it away from the saucer.  
  
"Just when you thought you've gotten them all, more pop up like weeds." he said moments before the familiar sound of a temporal transponder's distress beacon began transmitting from the Challenger. A young Kobali Ensign from communications spoke up.  
  
"Commander K'Tal, I'm detecting a distress signal from one of our agents in the field." K'Tal walked over to the Ensign's station and looked over the signal.  
  
"Do we have agents operating in this century?" he asked.  
  
"No sir," the Ensign explained. "The transponder is definitely one of ours, but no agents are currently assigned to this century."  
  
"Then who does it belong to?" K'Tal demanded. Daniels didn't take his eyes off the signal echoing from the Challenger.  
  
"It's mine," he said. "That's my transponder code." The Ensign scanned the location around the battle and shook his head.  
  
"I'm not picking up your biosignature." he said confused.  
  
"It's possible I was vaporized," started Daniels. K'Tal raised an eyebrow as Daniels met his gaze. "It wouldn't be the first time."  
  
"Then you should go find out." K'Tal ordered. Daniels activated a holographic display on his jumpsuit's left sleeve and downloaded the necessary information from New Khitomer's computers. His suit automatically adjusted to provide him with a protective helmet and gloves to shield him from the hazardous environment. A tactical display appeared on his visor as he made his way to the transporter pad.  
  
"How close can you get me to that signal?" He asked. A Ferengi Lieutenant at ops studied the scans of the Challenger.  
  
"The signal is coming from E Deck," she explained. "The whole deck is flooded with radiation which is wreaking havoc on my targeting scanners. It doesn't help that it's an alternate quantum reality still in the early stages of forming."  
  
When an alternate reality is formed it creates ripples of temporal energy through the fabric of spacetime. Most of the time the alternate reality solidifies into it's own parallel reality coexisting side by side the original timeline from which it spawned. In some less fortunate instances the alternate reality can overlap the original, overwriting historical events and effectively erase it from existence. So far Daniels and the crew of New Khitomer haven't been wiped clean from the universe which relieved Daniels. This meant the new reality could possibly coexist with their own, but if their calculations weren't precise Daniels' passage through time could alter reality just enough to completely erase his own universe. Daniels stepped onto the pad.  
  
"Set me down as close as you can. I can make my way on foot." he said. The Lieutenant quickly tapped coordinates into the computer.  
  
"I can set you down on G Deck." She said looking up from her console. "Plasma conduits have ruptured all over the ship. Be careful down there."  
  
Daniels nodded. "Let's do it."  
  
The Lieutenant looked to the Commander who nodded and she engaged the transporter. For a few tense moments Daniels is de-materialized and his atoms transported across 900 years of time and almost 80,000 light-years of space until he re-materialized in the burning corridor of an NX-class starship. It wasn't the first time he'd been on an NX-class vessel as he'd actually served aboard the Enterprise NX-01 for a time until he was forced to reveal who he really was to Captain Archer. He actually missed his time aboard Enterprise.  
  
"Come in New Khitomer," Daniels spoke into his helmet. "Are you still with me?" he asked. For a moment there was silence and Daniels started to get a little worried. Then the familiar voice of Command K'Tal came through his helmet's speakers.  
  
"We read you Daniels. Things are all good here."  
  
"I wish I could say the same." Daniels proceeded down the corridor and his suit's sensors automatically scanned several bodies and displayed their biosigns on his HUD. All dead. He stepped over them carefully and made his way to a Jefferies tube so he could climb to the next deck. At the base of the tube lay an Andorian and the officer's records appeared on the HUD for Daniels to see.  
  
"Commander Toles, the Challenger's first officer. Should have gone on to command the USS Atlantis NX-05 next year." Next to the Commander's body face down was a male humanoid wearing the familiar garb of a 22nd century Klingon Warrior, but as his sensors scanned the corpse he discovered something peculiar. "Are you seeing this Command?" he asked.  
  
"We do, but we're not sure what to make of it." responded K'Tal. Daniels reached for the body starting to turn it over and what he saw was shocking.  
  
"What the hell?" he muttered. The armor worn by the humanoid was definitely period correct Klingon armor, but whoever was wearing it was like no Klingon Daniels had ever seen before. The figure was hairless and it's skull was elongated. As Daniels turned the body over some more he could see it lacked ears and featured holes similar to those found on the skulls of most saurian species, but his sensors confirmed the figure was mammalian. He turned the body completely over onto it's back and stared into it's lifeless face. The figure's skin was a dark blue and appeared rubbery. His forehead ridges stretched down the bridge of his nose which was flat and wide. The ridges were thick around it and concealed four nostrils.  
  
Blood dripped from the figure's mouth and Daniels' suit took a scan. The DNA lacked any trace of the Augment Virus a large majority of Klingons would have in this half of the century. A few years ago the Klingons had experimented with augmented human DNA left over from Earth's Eugenics Wars of the 20th century. The Klingons feared modern humans were experimenting with physical augmentations which would give them an edge over the Klingon's own forces. Stealing samples of augment DNA the Klingons successfully created their own super soldiers, but the genetic modifications gave the Klingons a human like appearance.  
  
Unfortunately the neural pathways of the augmented Klingons would degrade, killing the subject. Matters were made even worse when the augment virus used to modify the Klingons mutated with a strain of Levodian flu and spread through the Empire. Several colonies were infected and with the reluctant help of a kidnapped Doctor Phlox, they were able to find a cure for the virus. The Klingons wouldn't get their augmented soldiers, but they would no longer die. The side effect of the virus however meant that billions of Klingons lost their distinctive Klingon look and now looked more like a human being. Generations of Klingons would be born this way over the next century and eventually dominate the Empire.  
  
"What in the name of Kahless is that?" a distraught K'Tal asked.  
  
"It has traces of Klingon DNA," Daniels explained. "But it's been heavily modified. I'm not detecting any signs of the augment virus."  
  
"We're running the sample through the database now. Maybe we can match it with a historical sample." Daniels stood and started his climb to E Deck. As he made his climb Commander K'Tal returned to coms. "Well that was unexpected." he said.  
  
"You found something already?" asked Daniels.  
  
"This Klingon, if you can call him that now, shares most of his DNA with Klindarians."  
  
Daniels stopped climbing for a moment. "Klindarian? I'm not familiar with that species."  
  
"Unless you've studied ancient Klingon history you wouldn't be." K'Tal explained.  
  
"Enlighten me."  
  
"Klindarians are a genetic cousin of modern day Klingons. They went extinct on Qo'noS some 40,000 years ago."  
  
Daniels continued his climb and carefully stepped onto E Deck. "Are you telling me that thing is some kind of Klingon neanderthal?" Daniels carefully stepped over more bodies of fallen Starfleet officers as he made his way to engineering. K'Tal continued.  
  
"Something like that. Most Klingons share about 3% of their DNA with Klindarians, but it's as if this warrior's Klindarian DNA has been hyper-stimulated. He's practically been mutated into one!"  
  
"Who would do such a thing?"  
  
"Proposals for purging the augment DNA were considered in the early days of the epidemic, but nothing was ever attempted for fear of making things worse."  
  
"Someone must have convinced these Klingons to go through with it." Daniels reached engineering and found the doors sealed shut. His suit did most of the work, but with a little effort he was able to pull them open. "I'm in." he said stepping inside. The damage was far worse than he suspected. Decks C and B had been completely sheared off and there was only open space above the warp reactor. Automatically adjusting to the lack of gravity, Daniels carefully made his way towards the signal.  
  
Had the temporal agent, possibly an alternate universe version of himself from another timeline, been blown out into space that would explain why his biosignature hadn't been detected. The transponder may have magnetically sealed itself to the deck or bulkhead. The signal grew stronger as he made his way towards the gaping hole in engineering's aft section. Daniels approached a sheet of debris pinning what appeared to be a humanoid figure against what was left of the bulkhead. Reaching down and tugging at the debris, he removed the metal plating and let it float away when he saw who was underneath.  
  
"Oh my god..." he said taking a step back.  
  
"Who is it?" K'Tal demanded. Appearing on Daniels' HUD was the image and file of Charles Tucker the third. The same man who lay dead on the floor before him, encased in a temporal jumpsuit much like his own.  
  
"It's Commander Tucker, chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise. He's supposed to be dead!"  
  
"He looks dead to me." joked K'Tal.  
  
Daniels wasn't amused. "You don't understand. He died in 2161, just before the signing of the Coalition of Planets."  
  
"Well he's wearing one of our suits and he has your transponder code. Perhaps in another reality you went back and recruited him at the time of his death."  
  
"Maybe, but he was never on a list of potential candidates."  
  
"Yeah, well the Klingons had never massacred Beta Rigel either."  
  
_That was a good point_. Daniels found the transponder held tightly in Tucker's hand. He stared into Tucker's lifeless eyes as he pulled the transponder from his hand and then he tapped the side of Tucker's helmet. The visor went opaque concealing the dead man's face. Daniels stood and his suit connected with the transponder in his palm and accessed a message recorded by Tucker before his death.  
  
" _This is temporal agent Charles Tucker the third... or the last. Some temporal agent I turned out to be. This was my third attempt at finding General K'Vagh before he released the Suliban's mutigenic virus into the Klingon Empire. Whomever is helping him is clearly aware of our movements. Every time we think we've found him he's secretly moved to another location. They're slippery bastards._ "  
  
Daniels accessed more files and read through Tucker's reports. General K'Vagh was head of the project attempting to create Klingon Augments on Qu'Vat colony in 2154. After the disaster K'Vagh was removed in disgrace and forced into retirement. Historical records indicate he would be killed by his brother as part of the Mauk-to'Vor ceremony and he would restore his honor in death.  
  
Apparently the Suliban altered history and gave the General other ideas. Daniels continued reading through the files. Sometime in this alternate reality, date unknown, K'Vagh would be approached by Federation representatives lead by Doctor Phlox. They claimed to have found a cure for the Augment virus and K'Vagh would spend several years studying this cure until he was sure it would work. After several trials he would conclude that it would work and the cure would make it's way through the Empire. At first it appeared to be a success and for a few years the Klingon's appearance would be restored, but then things would take a turn for the worse.  
  
"Are you reading this?" Daniels asked.  
  
"I am," replied K'Tal. "So the Suliban tricked General K'Vagh into unleashing another virus into the Empire and the Federation was to blame? Poor old fool."  
  
"He just wanted to make things right. I can't say I blame him."  
  
"What is it your people say? 'The pathway to the underworld is paved with good intentions'. The general best served the Empire in death." Commander Tucker's log continues.  
  
" _I've been tracking the whereabouts of Doctor Antaak, the lead scientist under the general's command on Qu'Vat. A number of contacts have suggested that Antaak was present when K'Vagh met with the Starfleet imposters. If we can find Antaak, we can get the location and time of this meeting._ "  
  
"We know the Suliban are responsible for this," K'Tal said. "But do we have any idea why they did this? The Suliban work for the Benefactor, but for some reason he actively worked to preserve the Federation. Why start a war which could destroy them?"  
  
Daniels thought about that for a moment. It was a very good point. The mysterious benefactor from the 28th century had attempted to destabilize the Klingon Empire before, but whenever the future of the Federation was in jeopardy he would order his agents to prevent any harm from coming to it. He had even gone so far as to speak with Captain Archer directly and warned him about the coming Xindi threat just a decade earlier.  
  
"You're tracking this timeline?" Daniels asked.  
  
"Of course." K'Tal replied.  
  
"Scan further ahead. What is the outcome of this conflict?"  
  
"Standby." Daniels stared out into space and watched as the Klingon vessels began warping out of the system. Only the broken hulks of Federation ships remained scattered across the stars. "The Klingons are on their way to Deneva." K'Tal continued. "This time Commodore Archer is going to be ready for them."  
  
"Federation victory?" Daniels asked.  
  
"Affirmative. The attacks into Federation space were not officially sanctioned by the High Council, which at this point is fracturing due to infighting. When the Klingon fleet is defeated at Deneva, further attacks are ceased and the Empire closes it's borders."  
  
"So the conflict is short lived. What of the Federation?"  
  
"The unexpected attack spooked the fledgling Federation. Member worlds began second guessing their decision to join. In response to accusations that the Federation wasn't strong enough to defend itself, Starfleet reinstalled Article 14, Section 31 of the Starfleet Charter."  
  
"Of course they did." Daniels said shaking his head. Article 14, Section 31 was a pre-Federation Starfleet article allowing Starfleet officers to bend and sometimes break the rules during times of extraordinary crisis. In the Prime Timeline when the Starfleet charter was redrafted for the newly formed United Federation of Planets, Captain Archer had personally overseen the removal of the article. Section 31 in the Prime Timeline would only exist in secret, run by a small cadre of zealous Starfleet officers who refused to let go of the past.  
  
"This time next year," K'Tal continued. "Starfleet Intelligence would make Section 31 an officially recognized branch. Over the next century they would develop new technologies designed to strengthen Starfleet's military capabilities."  
  
"That's it," Daniels said. "This attack not only destabilizes the Klingon command structure, but it also scares the Federation into becoming a stronger military power."  
  
"It didn't prevent the Klingons from attacking in 2256. A Klingon tyrant by the name of T'Kuvma rallies the Klingon Houses against the Federation, which nearly results in it's destruction."  
  
"Nearly? What stops them?"  
  
"Section 31 attempted to destroy Qo'noS with a weapon of mass destruction, but a Starfleet officer stopped them from using it. Instead she gave the weapon to a Klingon woman, L'Rell, and told her she could use it to unite the Klingon Houses under her leadership. L'Rell agreed and spared the Federation."  
  
"The Klingons allied with her without opposition?" Daniels was surprised. "Not a single Klingon called her bluff?"  
  
"Some did. Section 31 would attempt to suppress opposition, but their involvement would eventually be discovered. Klingon Houses would turn against her in 2258, dragging the Empire into a civil war."  
  
"So the Benefactor is playing a long term game. The Klingon attack in 2168 shifts the Federation's priorities from primarily exploration to that of a military power. Section 31's influence would destabilize the Empire and ensure the Federation's dominance in the Alpha and Beta Quadrant for centuries to come."  
  
"It would appear so and that's not the worst part."  
  
"How could it get any worse than that?"  
  
"We just did another temporal scan. If we don't find out where and when this divergence occurred, this quantum reality will erase our own reality from existence."  
  
Daniels knees nearly buckled from the news, but he quickly composed himself. It wasn't the first time an alternate reality was close to erasing the Prime Timeline from existence. The Na'kul would nearly erase the timeline on Earth in 1945. Luckily Captain Archer was able to stop them and restore order to the Prime Timeline. If only that peace could have lasted a little longer.  
  
"This is an Omega level threat," Daniels said. "I can't return to your time now."  
  
"Acknowledged." Said "K'Tal. "However we could redirect a temporal agent to assist you."  
  
"Who is available?"  
  
"An agent from the 25th century is available. I believe you've worked with them before." Daniels smiled when he thought about the number of agents working in that century. He knew exactly who K'Tal was talking about.  
  
"Has their time been effected by the temporal divergence yet?" Daniels asked.  
  
"Negative, I think." K'Tal said with uncertainty.  
  
"Explain."  
  
"We're detecting multiple temporal anomalies throughout the alternate 23rd century. Apparently some of those alternate Klingons from 2256 have been tossed into the 25th century, but they're in our 25th century." Daniels sighed with relief.  
  
"Then all isn't lost yet. There is still a chance we can save both our realities."  
  
"We could save both realities, but the Klingons of that other reality would still collapse."  
  
"One problem at a time. I won't be able to travel to the 25th century so you'll have to open a portal and bring our agent to me."  
  
"And where will you be?"  
  
Daniels looked down at Tucker's body. "I'm going to 2161. I have another agent to recruit."


End file.
